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Home to a campus for most major sportswear companies, a burgeoning tech industry, notable design schools and creative houses, Portland is a treasure trove of aesthetically stimulating hot spots. Here's where to go to get your creative wheels in motion.
Outlet
2500 NE Sandy Blvd., Suite E, outletpdx.com.
Kate Bingaman-Burt is a varsity design boss of Portland and force of nature. Outlet is her personal studio, but as with everything else KBB does, it's also a welcoming community center that offers Risograph printing services, classes and a variety of zines and prints for purchase.
Fisk
3613 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., fiskprojects.com/gallery.
Founder and curator Bijan Berhamini does an invaluable service highlighting the most cutting-edge designers, artists and makers from near and far, with regular gallery shows and release parties of books, magazines and clothing.
PNCA: Design Lecture Series
511 NW Broadway, events.pnca.edu.
Every Wednesday at 7pm during school term, the Pacific Northwest College of Art is home to a free lecture series open to the public. Speakers range from designers and artists from all over the world to talk about their work and process.
Independent Publishing Resource Center
318 SE Main St., No. 155, iprc.org. Closed Monday.
Hosted in an accessible, community-centric space, IPRC offers publishing and art tools, such as letterpress, screen printing, and Risograph—plus classes to help you become an expert in these mediums.
Ampersand Books
2916 NE Alberta St., ampersandgallerypdx.com. Closed Monday-Tuesday.
Gallery and bookstore on Alberta with a wide collection of art and design books heavily focused on photography. It's rare to leave without a couple of inspiring tomes in hand.
Monograph Bookwerks
5005 NE 27th Ave., monographbookwerks.com. Closed Monday-Thursday.
A tiny storefront that packs in an unbelievable number of rare art books, from hard-to-find used ones to new small-press editions. Monograph also stocks an impressive array of art objects and ephemera.
Portland Art Museum
1219 SW Park Ave., portlandartmuseum.org. Closed Monday.
PAM is the big enchilada of Portland art—a calm, cool pair of buildings filled with stimulating exhibits of artists from around the world and the ages. For those with a particular interest in the graphic arts, the rotating collection in the Adams Foundation Foyer and Helen Copeland Gallery span an impressive 500 years. The coming Rothko Pavilion will serve as a stunning addition connecting the two buildings.
Smith PDX
4135 SE Gladstone St., 503-558-4058, smithpdx.com. Noon-6 pm Tuesday-Saturday.
Metalworking is a challenging craft with a high cost of entry. Smith PDX hopes to facilitate greater community involvement by providing access to its maker space with daily, weekly, monthly and seasonal passes, as well as instructional classes. Smith will even helm new projects best handled by experts, although at present, it's begged off any additional commission work to focus on a studio expansion.